The Boy With A Thorn In His Side by Sylvia Patterson
“I’ve been called a workaholic but I don’t think I’m driven in any negative way. I’m just enthusiastic. I believe in bands, I believe in music, I believe it’s art. I believe, still, there’s nothing quite so powerful as an 18 year old with nothing to lose.”

Johnny Marr: ‘A lot of people are afraid’ by John Harris
“With the Smiths Johnny Marr blazed a trail for music with a political conscience. Now a successful solo artist, he still thinks it’s a musician’s job to ask awkward questions. But why is he such a lone voice?”

2013

Johnny Marr: “I tried to rebel against what I was known for” by Andrew P Street
“Ahead of his appearance at Southbound/Falls, guitar god Johnny Marr tells Andrew P Street about leaving the Cribs, going solo and ‘that weird little group from Manchester'”.

Johnny Marr: ‘I’ve always had a blind spot to the music of Queen’
“Guitarist Johnny Marr, 49, is known for his work in The Smiths and has been in Electronic, Modest Mouse and The Cribs. He released his first solo album this year.”

Johnny Marr interview: ‘I’ve been in all my favourite bands’ by Rob Hughes
“Johnny Marr’s five years in The Smiths have overshadowed his prolific output but the revered guitarist is finally stepping into the limelight.”

‘If you want to know about me and Morrissey, Google it': Ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr talks relationships and reunions by Adam Barr “He’s worked with Modest Mouse, the Pet Shop Boys and Beck, to name a few, and recently released his first solo album. So why, wonders Johnny Marr, do people still hark on about The Smiths”

Philosophical talk with Johnny Marr by Andy Welch
“After years as a sideman, the former Smiths guitarist – who plays a sold-out show at Cambridge Junction on March 12 – is taking centre stage with his debut solo album The Messenger. He tells Andy Welch why the time was finally right, and why it’s all about philosophy”

Hot Press Meets Johnny Marr by Olaf Tyaransen
“He’s rightly chuffed about his cracking new solo album but, a quarter of a century after The Smiths’ break-up, Johnny Marr remains testy about those never-ending reunion rumours…”

NME – 9 March 2013

Godlike Genius Johnny Marr
“As if any further proof were required that Johnny Marr is a bona fide Godlike Genius, his closing set was it. His solo material (‘Upstarts’, ‘Sun & Moon’) sound stonking; he enlists The Vaccine’s frontman Justin Young for a rip-snorting cover of “I Fought The Law'; he starts the mother of all guitar duels when he and Ronnie Fucking Wood exchange licks during Smiths classic ‘How Soon Is Now?’. The best, though, is saved ’til last. ‘Have we got time for one more? he asks, before launching into ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’. Perfect”

Johnny Marr: “Everyone should get a fair shout, and no one can tell me that the Conservative Party have ever been about that” by Rob Pollard
“Rob Pollard speaks to the erstwhile Smiths guitarist, Johnny Marr”

Time For A Little Bit Marr by Matthew Drake, photos by Jon Sheehan
“A quarter of a century after leaving The Smiths, Johnny Marr’s reputation as a true guitar legend is well-established. About time he released his first solo album, then…”

Q – March 2013

Johnny Marr: Smiths Legend Answers Your Questions by Chris Catchpole, portraits by Alex Lake
“He was expecting queries about ‘my hair and getting The Smiths back together’. So how would the six-string legend tackle topics such as La’s mystery man Lee Mavers and ‘the worst chord in the world’? Oh, and The Cribs’ hair?”

Johnny Marr Answers Your Questions
“He’s a bit of an indie icon; former guitarist for The Smiths and The Cribs among other bands, and unsurprisingly he’s got a lot to talk about. Luckily, in advance of the release of his new solo album The Messenger Johnny Marr agreed to answer some questions submitted by you the fans, via our AmazonMusicUK Facebook wall. He’s picked his ten favourite questions and answered them in the video below, filmed exclusively for Amazon.co.uk.”

Johnny Marr The Messenger by Ben Hewit
“Speak of the messenger and lo, he doth appear – it’s just taken him a bloody long time to turn up carrying a bag bulging with missives penned solely by his own hand. But when you’re as high-class a courier as Johnny Marr, there’s scant opportunity to hone solitary wares.”

The Smiths’ Johnny Mar Goes His Own Way: ‘I Like Being A Frontman’ (Q&A) by Tracey Davenport
“Solo album “The Messenger” brought the guitarist back to his native Manchester. Now, Marr looks ahead to high-profile gigs (among them: Coachella) where he’ll take center stage.”

Johnny Marr Is Not Interested in Blowing Up the Internet by Eric Spitznagel
“Morrissey once said, “I would rather eat my own testicles than reform the Smiths.” Which seems like a pretty definitive statement, especially coming from a vegan. Did he really need to take it that far? Couldn’t he just have said, “No, sorry, the Smiths still aren’t reuniting?” Probably not. Because we aren’t a pop culture-loving world that takes no for an answer. When I read Morrissey’s scrotum-eating declaration, my first thought wasn’t, “Wow, he really doesn’t like the Smiths.” My first thought was, “So you’re saying it’s pooooossible?”

Johnny Marr – Talks about life as a solo artist by Andy Welch
“After years as a sideman, former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr brings his debut solo album to Preston on March 8. He tells Andy Welch why the time was finally right…”

A Smith Asserts His Own Name – Johnny Marr of the Smiths Releases A Solo Album by Larry Rohter
“What took so long? Twenty-five years after he left the Smiths, perhaps the most influential British pop band of the 1980s, the guitarist Johnny Marr has finally made a solo album.”

Johnny Marr – Album By Album by Stephen Trousse
“Johnny Marr’s first proper solo album, The Messenger, is reviewed in the new issue of Uncut, dated March 2013, and out now, so it seemed time to revisit the guitarist’s impressive back catalogue with the man himself… From Uncut’s February 2008 issue (Take 129), Marr relives the making of records from The Smiths and The The to Electronic and Modest Mouse.”

It’s the right time to do a solo album..I can’t play music I don’t believe in – Says Johnny Marr by Jacqui Swift
“When it comes to his career, Johnny Marr as always let music dictate what he does next.”

Interview: Johnny Marr by Len Comaratta
“Johnny Marr is a guitarist’s guitarist, a modern-day icon of rock and roll, and a man who firmly believes that pop music can still be made with guitars. As one of the leaders of Manchester’s The Smiths, Marr’s jangly guitar, loose grooves, and haunting effects helped elevate the Mancunian quartet to such a level of influence that today the band is often considered one of, if not the, most important British band of its era.”

Still Close To His Roots by Jim Fusilli
“Born 49 years ago in the Ardwick district here, Johnny Marr quickly dived into his lifelong passion for popular music and guitars, forming his first band at age 13 and falling under the sway of local guitar heroes like Billy Duffy. In May 1982, Mr. Marr met Steven Patrick Morrissey at the latter’s childhood home in Stretford, which led to the formation of the Smiths, one of rock’s greatest and most influential groups of the 1980s.”

European Me: Johnny Marr – I may be a target but I know I’m a target… by Robin Murray
“Johnny Marr has nothing to prove. Even discarding his role in A Certain Iconic Indie Group, the guitarist has – in the past decade alone – provided guitar craft for Modest Mouse before a highly successful stint in The Cribs. Yet with his new solo album ‘The Messenger’ the musician seems to have gained a renewed sense of vigour, a distilled sense of energy. Punchy, direct and refusing to hold back it’s the sound of a songwriter who has looked at the world around him and clearly decided that enough, frankly, is enough.”

Johnny Marr Takes Music And Fashion Seriously – An Interview with the Coolest Guitarist to Ever Breathe Air by Kelly McClure with photos by Kevin Shea Adams
“Music and fashion go together like pedophiles and children. It’s always been an uneasy, somewhat forced relationship that results from perversion and mental illness. Johnny Marr is one of the few musicians who got it right. We interviewed him about being in The Smiths, and about whether or not Morrissey could beat him at arm wrestling.”

Heaven Knows He’s Godlike Now by Barry Nicolson with photos by David Edwards
“Ever since he formed The Smiths, Johnny Marr has been at the forefront of indie rock, shaping it for future generations. That’s why on February 27 he will be crowned Godlike Genius at the NME Awards. Barry Nicolson traces his path to Godliness, and hears about some emails to Morrissey…”

Back To The Front by Lauren Murphy
“Over the past three decades. Johnny Marr has played with some of the biggest names on the planet, but almost always as a guitar-for-hire; now he’s finally taking centre-stage with his first fully fledged solo album The Messenger”

Johnny Marr – The Making Of A Godlike Genius
“Ever since he formed The Smiths, Johnny Marr has been at the forefront of indie rock. That’s why on February 27 he will be crowned Godlike Genius at the NME Awards. Here’s a look back at the great man’s ridiculously varied and prolific career.”

The Mix: Letter To My Younger Self Johnny Marr “Morrissey and I Really Admired Each Other” by Jane Graham
“The Smiths legend Johnny Marr, 49, talks Irish work ethics, band reunions, and what happened when he first met Morrissey”

The Boy With The Thorn In His Side by Pat Gilbert, photos by Tom Sheehan
“Blessed yet bedogged by the legend of The Smiths, Johnny Mar has spent 25 fast-moving years as a globe trotting genius-for-hire, tripping balls with The The and rocking out with The Cribs. Now he’s come home, inspired by English weather, Aldous Huxley and his younger self to take the role he’ always shunned: Front Man and Solo Artist. Just don’t ask about Morrissey, OK? ‘I am not Manc Man’, he warns.”